Friends of mine, new to the game, becoming discouraged by STORY QUESTS

[Darkside302]

Seriously, I don't mind the grind from 1-50...and the grind from 50-60 isn't bad either. HOWEVER, the worse most annoying part that about makes me want to quit is the grind from ARR end game to HW start. What is it like 100 quests? It takes FOREVER and that's even with skipping and sprinting through everything. It's just ridiculous and tedious.

[Zojha]

What is it like 100 quests? It takes FOREVER and that's even with skipping and sprinting through everything. It's just ridiculous and tedious.

It takes...about one day of gametime, if you skip it all. That's what it usually takes me on my alts.

My main gripe with the whole process is: Fetch quests. From F'lhammins earring over Tatarus tea leaves to distributing the uniforms. I dunno, I find storytelling along the lines of:"And then the WoL went on the toilet, washed his fingers and went to get the groceries" not overly compelling.

[Moomba33]

I took an alt though the 2.X patch stories recently. The only parts that really bothered me were during 2.1 when you have to do a bunch of chores and fetch quests around Vesper Bay and Mor Dhona for the Scion's move and during 2.2 when there were some quests that forced you to go to different zones for just a couple of lines of dialog before telling you to change zones again. I found 2.3-2.5 to be pretty solid.

I don't see having to do the main story to unlock content as big deal but that's because the story is the main reason that I play. SE has said that you won't need to finish Heavensward to unlock the next expansion's content but as far as I know they haven't stated if you'll still need to finish all of ARR + the patch stories yet.

[Niwashi]

SE has said that you won't need to finish Heavensward to unlock the next expansion's content but as far as I know they haven't stated if you'll still need to finish all of ARR + the patch stories yet.

Given that the story in the later 2.x patches were leading into the Heavensward story, and not into whatever 4.0 will be about, the reason for requiring them won't really exist. I expect, however, that 4.0 will have its own lead-in story. The part that isn't clear yet is whether that lead-in content will be released in base-game patches prior to 4.0 (the way it was done for 3.0) or whether the lead-in content will be released along with the expansion itself. But in either case, it can't very well just dump us into a completely different area without any storyline about how we came to be there or what our interests are there, so an equivalent to those quests is going to exist and be required, just not these particular ones.

My prediction (based on nothing more than the fact I think it would work) would be that Heavensward gets wrapped up within the next patch or two, and then we get a couple patches that are part of the base game instead of HW, though their levels span from 50-60, so would require having one or another of the expansions (either 3.0 or 4.0). Those patches branch off starting after 2.0 ends (The Ultimate Weapon) and could be played (by anyone who can meet their level requirements) either before or after the 2.x patches and HW, and their story explains why we're heading into the 4.0 content. The 2.0 story and those new lead-in patches would then be required to unlock the main portion of the 4.0 expansion.

[SDaemon]

But in either case, it can't very well just dump us into a completely different area without any storyline about how we came to be there or what our interests are there, so an equivalent to those quests is going to exist and be required, just not these particular ones.

From what I understood, SE was considering doing a recap cutscene of HW events for those that don't play through the HW story, so they can get caught up to speed and go into 4.0 since the next expansion won't require the completion of the main story. I imagine though that the 4.0 expansion will still require you to have bought ARR and HW to have access to 4.0 and that it will still be designed for post HW levels and gear.

[Niwashi]

From what I understood, SE was considering doing a recap cutscene of HW events for those that don't play through the HW story

While I suppose that's possible, I certainly hope they don't. It would totally spoil the story for anyone who doesn't have HW yet at that point, but might want to play it at some later point down the road. It's better to just branch off and keep the two separate.

I imagine though that the 4.0 expansion will still require you to have bought ARR and HW to have access to 4.0 and that it will still be designed for post HW levels and gear.

I've never heard of any game that required purchase of past expansions before you could play the latest one, and I really can't imagine that happening here. Designed for post HW levels and gear, certainly, which would be plenty to make playing HW first the preferable way to get there. (Anyone who skips HW would have a lot of level grinding to do in place of it.) But they can't very well require HW unless they switch to giving it away for free, and I can't see them giving up the revenue on it.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

From what I understood, SE was considering doing a recap cutscene of HW events for those that don't play through the HW story, so they can get caught up to speed and go into 4.0 since the next expansion won't require the completion of the main story. I imagine though that the 4.0 expansion will still require you to have bought ARR and HW to have access to 4.0 and that it will still be designed for post HW levels and gear.

I don't think the devs said that they would require 3.0 to get access to 4.0.

[Nici]

I don't think the devs said that they would require 3.0 to get access to 4.0.

Hmmm...if this is true i wonder how they will make the classes that were introduced into HW...AST, DRK, MCH available to those new players who opt to skip 3.0, will they be made available in a different way?

[bass9020]

Hmmm...if this is true i wonder how they will make the classes that were introduced into HW...AST, DRK, MCH available to those new players who opt to skip 3.0, will they be made available in a different way?

You don't own HW you don't get the jobs. Most classes/jobs are always linked to expansions

[Niwashi]

Hmmm...if this is true i wonder how they will make the classes that were introduced into HW...AST, DRK, MCH available to those new players who opt to skip 3.0, will they be made available in a different way?

Those jobs are part of Heavensward. Players who skip HW (and don't even purchase it) wouldn't have access to them. Of course, you could buy HW and only use the first bit that gets you into Ishgard so you could unlock the jobs, without playing through the rest of the HW story, but SE isn't going to give away three of HW's biggest features to players who don't pay for it. If you want to play Astrologian, Dark Knight, or Machinist, or if you want to play as an Au Ra, you have to buy the expansion that gives you those.